Emma Boakes

PhD Student, University of Portsmouth

Emma has a BSc in Psychology from the University of Plymouth and an MSc with distinction in Human Centred Computer Systems from the University of Sussex.

Emma has experience in the private and public sectors, working to understand how the design of systems impacts the behaviours and performance of people. Her work across diverse industries, including health, defence, security and transport, frequently involved liaising with internal and external stakeholders, from board level to the general public, to inform project direction and outputs.

Emma's current research looks at cyber-physical security across the life cycle of a building, from design through to operation; specifically, the risk of cyber vulnerabilities being exploited to target physical security. Her research aims to understand whether disparity between policy, function and personnel introduces a barrier to collaboration, resulting in a security gap.

Emma is supervised by Professor Debi Ashenden (Portsmouth) and Professor Emma Barrett (Manchester)